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Thea Tselepis is the Head of the Department of Fashion Design in the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture (FADA) at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). She majored in Clothing Management at the University of Pretoria graduating in 2000. In the year 2005 she completed her Masters in Consumer Science at the University of Pretoria. The study titled "Die rol van die intrinsieke en ekstrinsieke faktore in die vroeë-adolessente dogter se evaluering van die pas van haar klere" focused on the early adolescent's evaluation of the fit of their garments on various levels. Thea also completed her PhD at the University of Pretoria and graduated in 2014. The study titled ''The development of an entrepreneurially oriented design model for the South African small business that offers custom-made apparel '' focused on local clothing owner-designers' behavior with regard to entrepreneurial orientation. Thea is currently in the process of driving a postdoctoral research focus area on "preneurship", which mainly involves the development of entrepreneurial orientation and enterprising behaviour of small business owners, intrapreneurs and bricoleurs in the clothing industry. Thea lectures business management and entrepreneurship related courses on undergraduate level and supervises postgraduate students in the BTech, MTech and MA programmes. Thea's research falls within the broader field of Clothing Management. The specific focus of her research is on Entrepreneurial and Small business development, with a specialization in pre-incubation and collective creativity.

Thea's research outputs include

A co-authored article with Prof HM De Klerk, titled 'The early-adolescent girl's expectations about the fit of her clothing: a conceptual framework' which was published in the 'Journal of Family, Ecology and Consumer Science' in 2004.

A co-authored article with Prof HM De Klerk, titled 'The early-adolescent female clothing consumer: expectations, evaluations and satisfaction with fit as part of the appreciation of clothing quality' which was published in the 'Journal of Fashion, Marketing and Management' in 2007.

A co-authored article with Ms Mariette Strydom, titled 'Applying the design process to apparel prototype development: students' experience of a community service-learning project' which was published in the 'Journal of Family, Ecology and Consumer Science' in 2013.

A co-authored article with Prof Anne Mastamet-Mason & Prof Alex J Antonites, titled 'Designing success: describing a collaborative clothing design process between apprentice designers and expert design entrepreneurs' which was published in the 'Journal of Family, Ecology and Consumer Science' in 2015.

A co-authored article with Prof Anne Mastamet-Mason & Prof Alex J Antonites, titled 'Collaborating to compete: The role of collective creativity in a small South African design Business' which was published in the 'Southern African Journal of Entrepreneurship and Business Management' in 2016.

A presentation with Prof HM De Klerk, titled 'A qualitative investigation into the early adolescent girls' evaluation of the fit of clothes', which was presented at the South African Association of Family Ecology and Consumer Sciences 8th National Conference held in Cape Town in 2006. The paper was published in the conference proceedings document.

A poster with Prof HM De Klerk, titled 'Emotions and the young female consumer's evaluation of fit', which was presented at the Annual International Textiles and Apparel Association (ITAA) Conference held in Ohio in 2007.

A presentation with Prof HM De Klerk, titled 'What feels good must be good: The role of feelings in the young female consumer's evaluation of the fit of her clothes', which was presented at the South African Association of Family Ecology and Consumer Sciences Ninth National Conference held in Pretoria in 2008.

A presentation with Ms Mariette Strydom, titled 'From happy concepts to happy South Africans: The role of service learning and community engagement in Consumer Science applied to "African Happy Pants", which was presented at the South African Association of Family Ecology and Consumer Sciences 12th International Conference held in Pretoria in 2011. The paper was published in the conference proceedings document.

A paper titled 'Towards an entrepreneurially orientated design model for the South African small business that provides custom-made apparel', which was presented at the Design Education of Southern Africa Conference held in Van der Bijl Park in 2013. The paper was published in the conference proceedings document.

A co-authored paper with Prof Anne Mastamet-Mason & Prof Alex J Antonites, titled 'Proposing of a design model applicable to the small business that provides innovative custom-made apparel', which was presented at the Tshwane University of Technology Conference held in Pretoria in 2013.

A co-authored paper with Prof Alex J Antonites, titled ' Mentoring apprentice apparel designers towards sustainable splendor', which was presented at the Cumulus Conference held in Johannesburg in 2014. The paper was published in the conference proceedings document.

A poster presentation with Prof Anne Mastamet-Mason & Ms Naila Mollel, titled 'Integrating sustainable development in the fashion and textile curricula in South African higher education: a multi-stakeholders perspective', was presented at the International Journal of Arts & Sciences' (IJAS) International Conference for Teaching and Education held in Toronto in 2015.

A paper titled 'Transforming the Training: Ethical considerations in Re-designing an Incubation Model aimed to Train Aspiring Fashion Design Entrepreneurs', which was presented at the Design Education of Southern Africa Conference held in Midrand in 2015. The paper was published in the conference proceedings document.

A co-authored paper with Ms Lee de Wet, titled, 'Whose creative expression is it anyway? A conceptual framework proposed to facilitate an authentic creation process of fashion design mood boards', which was presented at the DEFSA (Design Education Forum of South Africa) Conference held in September 2015. The conference paper was also published in the DEFSA conference proceedings document.

A presentation with Ms Salomien Van Heerden, titled 'Virtual or traditional window displays: which look and feel does the South African Female innovation generation prefer?', which was presented at the International Conference of Family Ecology and Consumer Science held in Centurion in 2016.

A co-authored paper with Mr Chris Schachtebec, titled 'Win-Win Solutions: applying business planning in a collaborative undergraduate design project', which was presented at the Future of Education Conference held in Florence (Italy) in 2016. The paper was published in the conference proceedings document.

Thea's highlight of her research outputs was when she received the awarded for the best oral presentation at the South African Association of Family Ecology and Consumer Sciences Conference held in February 2016. She presented the work of one of her masters students. The study explored the look and feel of traditional window displays as well as virtual representations thereof. The study reported how 653 female respondents from the innovation generation in Johannesburg (Gauteng) experienced traditional and virtual window displays on a sensory, cognitive and emotional level. The study was seen as important for South African Clothing stores as knowledge about consumer preferences could provide grounds for a competitive advantage. For Thea, it was an honour to receive the best presentation award at the end of the conference, but what made the award particularly special was that she could share this award with her master's student, Salomien Van Heerden. For Thea, it is satisfying to be acknowledged for hard work, but even more so fulfilling to see her students make a positive scientific contribution to the field of Clothing Management.